Sullivan Survives to Score Day of 8's Victory
In front of a near capacity crowd, Matthew Sullivan (#18) survived a war of attrition between the 35 Demolition cars in the pit area to earn the win in The Day of 8’s Demo finale Saturday night at Speedway Miramichi! Sullivan took the win after Alexander MacIntosh (#17) and Sam Jardine (#85) made heavy contact which took each other out of competition. The win came with a big payday for Sullivan, a whopping $1500!
MacIntosh was scored as second as he managed to get his car moving after the contact with Jardine, albeit ever so slightly. Jardine was filling in for Dylan Storey in the #85 car in the finale. Sam Jardine’s usual car (#12) was driven by Miky Roussel, who is usually #758. Roussel put on arguably the best show in the Demo, with hard hits and even catching some air as he went for a full speed jump to the thrill of the fans.
The Figure 8 Enduro portion of the card ended up being a quick one. Seventeen cars took the call to the green, but a couple of violent hits in the centre of the “X” in the early laps narrowed the field in a hurry, to the point that it quickly called to became an all out Demo with only 8 cars running. Prior to the break to transition to the Demo, Nathan Vienneau (#606) was leading the way. The first violent hit came between Bobby McGraw (#27) and Brian Forest (#1755), and just a few laps later Jean-Francois Basque (#21) and Randy Girouard (#8) made heavy contact which resulted in the red flag and the finish to the Figure 8 portion.
The wildest, longest, and most grueling race of the night came in the Back-Up race, which took a long time to complete. The initial start resulted in a red flag on two occasions due to incidents at the green flag. The third start would finally see a few laps get completed, until Adam MacDonald (#3), driving for Jonathan Dickson, rolled his van in turn 2, resulting in another red flag. Only about 5 cars remained after the third red flag, and when the race resumed it was Dawson Cripps (#25) driving to the lead to take the win. Twenty-one cars started the Back-Up Race.
The Tire Race was a thriller over the 8-lap affair. The initial lap saw a wild moment when a car drove head on into the tire on the very first turn. Shortly after a car fire would result in a red flag on lap 5. When the race went back green, it was Mitch Brideau (#22) driving his way around the tires to take the victory besting the 14-car field.
The Dash for Cash ended up being one of the tamest races of the night, with a surprise winner. Blake Bransfield (#160), starting his first ever Demo race, got up on the wheel and bested a 25-car field to take victory.
The Powder Puff race saw by far the biggest field of cars in quite some time. A total of 17 ladies took to the track, nearly doubling recent fields in car count. And the big field provided some intense action over the 8-lap affair, as Sam Jardine (#12) and Monique Benoit (#10x) went back and forth for the lead, before Jardine pulled away to pull the victory.
The Tim’s Corner Motorsports Bandolero Blast-Off was a thrilling show. The youngest stars in Atlantic Canada took to the track displaying explementary driving skills for their young age. The first 25-lap feature saw Tanton Wooldridge (#0) taking the victory holding off Danny Chisholm (#87) and Teagan Dempsey (#23) to take the victory.
Wooldridge would follow up his performance in the second half of the show, making the pass around halfway on Chase MacKay (#71) and driving away to victory. Mechanical issues for Chisholm allowed MacKay to take the second spot, while Teagan Dempsey came out on top in a thrilling battle with Ayden Christensen (#24) to score another podium finish. Both feature races were very cleanly run, with only 3 cautions, 2 of which came for mechanical issues.
With his double feature win, Tanton Wooldridge would be the overall winner of the Bando Blast-Off event. The 10-lap heat win to kick off the event went to Danny Chisholm. On behalf of Speedway Miramichi, we would like to send a big thank you to all drivers and teams who made the trip for this event, the first Bandolero race in over 4 years in Miramichi. As well a big thank you to Tim Terry of Tim’s Corner Motorsports for organizing this event.
In Street Stock action, James Matchett (#55) took a convincing victory after making contact with Darcy O’Neill (#68) early on. With O’Neill leading, contact between the two in turn 1 resulted in O’Neill spinning, and both cars being sent to the rear of the field on lap 15. Both drivers would very quickly drive through the field and get back to the lead before O’Neill spun while running 2nd to Matchett in turn 4. The ensuing restart would see Matchett drive away with the victory, while JR Lawson (#81) pulling double duty drove his way to a respectable 2nd place finish, andJamie Jardine had the best race of his career to round out the podium – the first of his career.
Jared Tozer (#51) took his first ever checkered flag in a competitive 10-lap heat race, holding off Darcy O’Neill in a photo finish at the line. Eight cars were in the pits, but reigning track champion and points leader Chris Wilson (#2W), who had won every feature up to this point in 2020, missed the call to start due to transmission issues.
The Bombers feature came right down to the finish, with a thrilling ending. Adam Plourde (#52) won the heat race and jumped out to a lead early in the feature, with Jonathan Dickson (#3) hot on his tail. A mid-race caution for a tire problem on Mike Burns (#28) set up a restart, which saw Robert Legere (#87), who was filling in for Kevin Tucker, get the jump on Dickson for second. Dickson would make the pass on Legere and chase down Plourde, and Dickson would send it into the final turns, but he just didn’t have enough to get past Plourde. Legere would hang on for third.
JR Lawson (#81) continued his dominance over the Mini Stock class, with perhaps what may have been his most dominating performance ever. Lawson jumped out to an early lead over the 10-car field and drove away by nearly half a track en route to victory. The caution free affair would see a nice battle in Lawson’s mirror for second, with Rob Poirier (#0) besting Chantel Ackles (#30) on the podium.
Poirier and Ackles were winners in 10 lap heat races for Mini Stocks.
The Legends class made its return to Speedway Miramichi for the first time in nearly 2 decades. Despite a low car count, the drivers impressed the fans with the speed of their cars. The drivers put on a great show, with Devin Wadden (#20) besting his father Greg (#28) at the line to win.
Paul Andre Hachey put on a show and the fans made a lot of noise, resulting in him being crowned winner of the Burnout Competition in his Ford Ranger.
The fireworks show planned had to be sadly cancelled due to the province-wide fire ban. Speedway Miramichi hopes to make this up at a future show.
The race was history making being the first ever live broadcast from the track. Crews from Tim’s Corner TV were on site producing the live broadcast. The race, in an on-demand format, can be purchased for viewing now at timscorner.tv.
The next race at Speedway Miramichi is coming up on August 29th. This will be another big Demo show, with championship points being top of mind with only 2 points events left for Demolition. Also on the card will be Mini Stock, Street Stock, Bombers, and the return of the Atlantic Modified Tour. Stay tuned in the coming days for more info!
The Day of 8’s Demo Podium
1. Matthew Sullivan #18
2. Alexander MacIntosh #17
3. Sam Jardine #85
TCM Bandolero Blast-Off Feature #1
1. Tanton Wooldridge #0
2. Danny Chisholm #87
3. Teagan Dempsey #23
4. Ayden Christensen #24
5. Roary Coates #13
6. Chase MacKay #71
DNS – Dylan MacMillan #92
TCM Bandolero Blast-Off Feature #2
1. Tanton Wooldridge #0
2. Chase MacKay #71
3. Teagan Dempsey #23
4. Ayden Christensen #24
5. Roary Coates #13
6. Danny Chisholm #87
DNS – Dylan MacMillan #92
Street Stock 35 Lap Feature Results
1. James Matchett #55
2. JR Lawson #81
3. Jamie Jardine #10
4. Robert Legere #04
5. Bryar Ellis #95
6. Jared Tozer #51
7. Darcy O’Neill #68
DNS – Chris Wilson #2W
Bomber 20 Lap Feature Results
1. Adam Plourde #52
2. Jonathan Dickson #3
3. Robert Legere #87
4. Riley Harris #1
5. Ben Jardine #76
6. Dawson Cripps #25
7. Mike Burns #28
Mini Stock 35 Lap Feature Results
1. JR Lawson #81
2. Rob Poirier #0
3. Chantel Ackles #30
4. Mathieu Mallet #80
5. Mitchell Poirier #28
6. Steven Matthews #198
7. Conrad Murphy #89
8. Michael Bouchard #5
9. Tom Ackles #130
10. Tyler Lannan-McLeod #24
DNS - Nick Brun #01
Legends Results
1. Devin Wadden #20
2. Greg Wadden #28
Dash for Cash Winner – Blake Bransfield #160
Powder Puff Winner – Sam Jardine #12
Back-Up Race Winner – Dawson Cripps #25
Tire Race Winner – Mitch Brid